Okay, so I've been using the M5 MacBook

Pro and the M5 Pro MacBook Pro for about

a week now, and I think most people are

still missing the point of these

machines. So, in this video, I want to

help you determine whether the M5 or M5

Pro is right for you. So, we're going to

discuss the differences I've noticed in

video and photo editing, web browsing,

transferring large files, battery life,

gaming, and more. All right, so the

unboxing is exactly what you'd expect

from a MacBook. Nothing new here unless

you paid an extra $150 for the

nanoexture display because in that case

you will receive a polishing cloth to

keep the screen clean. But if you don't

get the nanoexture display, the base

price for the M5 MacBook Pro is $16.99.

The M5 Pro MacBook Pro is $21.99. So

there's a $500 difference between the

two. Last year with the M4 and M4 Pro,

it was only a $400 gap. So there's even

a larger gap in price this year than

last year. So, we're going to see if

that price gap is actually warranted.

Now, before we get into the testing,

let's take a look at the design and the

specs because I do have both the space

gray and the silver color, which those

are the only two colors offered. Now,

both of these do have three USBC ports,

but the M5 Pro has Thunderbolt 5 ports,

whereas the regular M5, the base M5, has

Thunderbolt 4. And just for comparison,

Thunderbolt 4 is going to give you a

data transfer rate of up to 40 gigs a

second, whereas Thunderbolt 5 is going

to double that to 80 gigs a second, and

it can dynamically allocate up to 120

gigs a second for video bandwidth when

needed. Now, I still don't have any

Thunderbolt 5 SSDs or docks just yet

since Thunderbolt 4 is super fast as it

is, but this could still be important if

you want the fastest data transfer

speeds possible. Now, here's something

very important that you need to know

about the M5 versus the M5 Pro, and that

has to do with the external display

support. So, if you hook your MacBook up

to an external display, like maybe a

Studio Display or a Studio Display XDR,

which just came out, keep in mind that

with the M5, the base M5, you can only

have two external displays up to 6K 60

Hz or 4K 144 hertz. Or you can have one

display up to 8K 60, 5K 120, or 4K 240.

But with the M5 Pro, you can have a

triple display setup because you could

have three external displays at the same

6K 60 Hz or 4K 144 hertz. And you could

also have a higher resolution dual

monitor setup as well with the M5 Pro

because you can have one display up to

8K 60, 5K 120, or 4K 240, plus a second

display up to 5K 120 or 4K 200. So, you

can have a dual studio display XDR setup

with the M5 Pro if you want to. Now,

when you open these MacBook Pros up,

you'll notice that the keyboard is the

same on both of these. The display is

also the same. So, we have that same

14.2 in miniledd prootion display with

that 120 Hz refresh rate. We have a,000

nits of peak SDR brightness, 1,600 in

HDR. And this is actually a noteworthy

upgrade if you're coming from a prem

because the SDR brightness before that

was just 600 nits. And plus, we also

just got nanoexture for the first time

on the M4 MacBook Pro. So keep that in

mind. And I personally think that the

nanoexture is so worth the extra $150 if

you are in a bright environment often.

So, if you don't use this, you know,

hooked up to an external display all the

time, if you actually take it with you

on the go and you're in an airport

lounge, if you work outside, if you work

at a cafe, it is definitely worth it

because you won't have near as many

reflections on the screen and you won't

see all that glare on your screen. It's

actually a big difference. And if I'm

having a MacBook Pro as my main device

that I travel with, I am definitely

going with the nanoexture option. The

only problem is that it's super hard to

clean even with the polishing cloth.

Now, let's talk about these specs here

because there's some interesting changes

with the M5 series. So, the M5 MacBook

Pro has a 10 core CPU and a 10 core GPU,

whereas the M5 Pro has a 15 core CPU and

a 16 core GPU. Or you could pay an extra

$200 to get an 18 core CPU and a 20 core

GPU. Now, here's where it gets

interesting. So, the new base model M5

has 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TBTE of

storage. So, this is the new base M5

with that 1 TBTE of storage. Now, you

could also go up to 32 gigs of RAM and

also 4 TB of storage, which is up from

the maximum of 2 TB on the M4 MacBook

Pro. That was previously the 4 tab was

previously limited to the Pro chips

only. So, that's a nice enhancement

there for the base M5. And for the M5

Pro, we have 24 gigs of RAM and 1 TB of

storage as the base model. and you can

go up to 48 gigs of RAM and the same 4

terabytes of storage maximum. So, when

you account for the extra RAM in the M5

Pro, you're now paying $300 more for the

upgraded chip and those extra CPU and

GPU cores, which last year there was

only a $200 gap when you lined up the

RAM and the storage. However, I have to

say that the increased RAM is not the

same as if you were to upgrade the M5 to

24 gigs of RAM because the M5 Pro has a

higher memory bandwidth than the M5. So,

the M5 gets you 153 gigs a second,

whereas the M5 Pro gets you 307 gigs a

second. So, that's nearly double. So,

the M5 Pro is definitely going to handle

those more intensive tasks and data

flows better. So, you know, 4K, 8K video

editing, photo editing, gaming, things

like that. It's going to run more

efficiently and be faster on the M5 Pro.

Speaking of RAM and storage, when you

eventually get close to filling up that

one TBTE SSD, you're going to need

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Now, keep in [snorts] mind, I do have

the 14-inch models here, but you can

also upgrade the M5 Pro MacBook Pro to

16 in for an extra $500. And that extra

500 bucks is going to get you three

additional CPU cores, four additional

GPU cores, and a 140 W power block.

However, you can get those same three

CPU cores and four GPU cores on the

14-in model for an extra $200 if you

want that power without upgrading to the

16-in model, which is heavier. and

obviously, you know, a much bigger

screen and it's not as portable. Now, as

far as battery life goes, the M5 is

going to get you 16 hours of web

browsing, 24 hours of video streaming,

and the M5 Pro is going to get you 14

hours of web browsing and 22 hours of

video streaming. So, base M5 should be

better for battery life. And throughout

all my testing, I do have both of these

running on battery for the same amount

of time. So, stick around after the

benchmarks to see how these compared in

real life. Okay, so let's get into those

benchmarks and then do some real world

testing like video editing, file

transfers, things like that. So, we're

going to start with a very simple

Blackmagic disc speed test here. So,

keep in mind the space black is the M5

Pro. The silver is the regular M5. Man,

take a look at these scores. So, the M5

scored a 6480 on the right, whereas the

M5 Pro scored an 11358

on the right. And on the read, we scored

a 6757 on the M5 versus a 12507 on the

read. So nearly double for both the read

and the right speeds on the M5 Pro.

That's very impressive and that will

absolutely make a difference in

day-to-day usage. All right, so now

we're going to run a Geekbench 6 test on

both of these. And keep in mind, we are

running on battery on both machines. So

we do have the M5 Pro running in

automatic for the energy mode. So it

will switch to high power when it needs

it. And we're at 97% on both. So, we're

going to see at the end of these tests

which one has the highest battery

percentage and if it's actually as big

of a difference as you would think.

Okay, so we are currently running the

multi-thread CPU benchmark in Cinebench

right now. And those fans are picking up

a lot on the M5 Pro MacBook Pro. Now,

keep in mind the M5 Pro has two cooling

fans inside whereas the base M5 only has

one cooling fan inside. So, we know

there's going to be more noise that

comes from the M5 Pro. But, man, it is

very loud. The fan noise on the M5 Pro

is extremely loud. Now, I am currently

running in high power mode, so that is

going to, you know, maximize the

performance and spin up those fans a lot

more frequently, but it's a big

difference in the overall fan noise that

you get from M5 versus M5 Pro.

Okay, you're probably going to be able

to hear the fans on the M5 Pro kicking

in the background. But before we get to

the Cinebench scores, let's show you the

Geekbench scores that we got here on

both machines. So, I did run a Geekbench

6 CPU test and take a look at the score.

So, 4270 on the M5 versus 4277. Then, we

had a 17716 on multicore versus 24930 on

multicore for M5 Pro. So, that single

score is actually pretty close on both

of them. You're really going to see the

benefits with the multicore there. Now,

you'll see a big difference in the GPU

test because we scored a 48562 on the M5

and a 76978

on M5 Pro. So, again, a massive

difference in GPU performance. We also

ran a Geekbench AI CPU test and we

scored a 6893 quantitized score versus

6997. So, again, CPU is pretty close on

all these scores, but with GPU, take a

look at the difference here. The

quantitized score was 2443

on M5, 31896 on M5 Pro for AI related

tasks. Now, we're going to run a better

real world test for AI here in a little

bit, but those are just the benchmarks

there. Now, we did also run a Cinebench

test and take a look at these scores.

So, for the GPU on the M5, we scored a

216.

On the M5 Pro, a 39896.

Massive difference there. And then for

the multi-threaded CPU benchmark, we

scored a 4430 on M5, 7088 on M5 Pro. So

again, a pretty big difference there on

Cinebench. Okay, so we just ran a

speedometer 3.1 test. And take a look at

this. The M5 actually beat the M5 Pro at

58.8 versus 57.0.

So that's pretty impressive, but not too

surprising because we saw that the

single core score throughout has been

very similar between these two. So, with

web browsing, you're probably not going

to see really any difference at all

between these two. However, you might

see a difference with Wi-Fi speeds and

Wi-Fi connectivity because the M5 Pro

has Apple's N1 wireless chip, which the

M5 does not have. So, you're going to

have Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 on the M5

Pro, and you're going to have Wi-Fi 6

and Bluetooth 5.3 on M5. So, Wi-Fi

speeds, especially if you have a Wi-Fi 7

router, will be better on the M5 Pro.

And also Bluetooth 6 is a big deal as

well because you have those improvements

as well when you're using, you know,

Bluetooth devices. And by the way, I've

been monitoring the swap that's being

used on both these machines and both of

them are sitting pretty even with swap.

No matter what I'm doing, all the

benchmarks, they're both sitting even

around the swap. So, I think it peaked

at around 3, you know, 3 or 3.4

gigabytes of swap used. Right now, we're

kind of idle and we're still at about a

gig used on both. And just an update on

the battery life before we go into the

real world tests. We're sitting at 60%

on the M5 Pro, 75% on the M5. And keep

in mind, we started this test at 97%.

Okay, so now we're going to have some

fun because we're going to do some

realworld testing. And we're going to

start with file transfer speeds because

again, the transfer speeds should be a

good bit faster, you know, on the M5

Pro. So, we're going to transfer a 206

GB folder from our SSD, our Thunderbolt

4 SSD right here to our downloads folder

on our Mac. So, let's go ahead and drag

this on over. Okay, so 6 minutes and 40

seconds on the M5 Pro to transfer that

200 GB file versus 13 minutes and 8

seconds on the M5. So M5 Pro is almost

twice as fast as the M5 for transferring

large files, which that's something

you're probably going to do on a pretty

frequent basis. So that is a big

advantage for the M5 Pro. Okay, so now

we're going to do a Final Cut Pro video

export test using a 4K 30 gigabyte video

file. So we're going to load this into

the timeline on both of these and we're

going to export right away without even

allowing for render. So let's go ahead

and put these in here. We'll just throw

in a transition real quick. just to

spice it up a little bit. But this large

of a file doesn't really need too much

going on. So, we're just going to throw

in a cross dissolve right here on both

of these in this little section. We're

going to go to commande to export both

of these. Okay. So, I'm in the middle of

the video export test right now and take

a look at this. The M5 is actually in

the lead. So, 26% versus 25% on the M5

Pro. So, we'll see if things change, but

so far M5 starting off very strong. We

have our little stopwatch down there in

the corner. All right. So, there we go.

We just finished up on the M5 Pro at

about 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Let's

see what we get on the base M5. This is

a lot closer than I was anticipating.

And let's see what we score. Okay, so

there we go. About 637 it looks like on

the M5. So, very crazy how close those

two were. Now, if you had a more

intensive, you know, project with a lot

of things stacked on top of each other,

it might be different. But if you're

just doing a basic, you know, video

editing with a couple of transitions,

then it's probably going to be pretty

similar between M5 and M5 Pro. Okay, so

now we're going to do an interesting

test that I've not done yet here on the

channel. And that's because I think that

Apple is really focusing on AI related

tasks and performance. So we're testing

something out here. So we are in the

drawings application, and we're going to

do a text to image generation here using

the Zimage Turbo model. Okay, so here is

the prompt that we typed in. So 3D

fluffy llama close-up cute and adorable

and all of that. So that is what we have

here. We're going to tap on return at

the same time on both and see which one

can generate that image faster. And

there we go. M5 finished up or M5 Pro

rather finished up at 1 minute and 1

second. And we're still waiting on the

base M5 to finish up with this image

generation. So we're going on a minute

13 minute 14. It's finishing up here.

Almost done. And this should be it right

there. Okay. So a minute and 17. So, a

16se secondond difference between the

two for a task like text to image

generation. So, clearly M5 Pro is

better. And I'm sure again if I put

super sophisticated uh prompts in there,

you would see a big difference. But for

something you'd actually do on a daily

basis, you could see that the difference

in time for AI related tasks is not

going to be a massive difference. Okay,

so it's about time to push these things

to their limit. So, I'm going to open up

a lot of tabs, about 50 tabs on both of

these. We're going to open up pretty

much all of the intensive tasks that we

can and see how much swap we can get on

both and if any of these lag and how

much. Okay, so we're currently in

Lightroom right now, but in the

background, we have a lot going on. So,

we have over a 100 tabs opened up in our

Safari, including multiple videos, and

you can see that we just have a lot

going on in here, and I'm able to change

between tabs pretty well on M5 and M5

Pro, surprisingly. So, also in the

background, we have a video being

exported right now in Final Cut Pro, a

4K video file, the same one from

earlier. And both of these are holding

up well. Like the M5 is not even, you

know, giving me any signs of a struggle

here. So, take a look at this. We do

have 10 gigabytes of swap on the M5

versus only 2.9 on the M5 Pro. So, a

significantly larger amount of swap

being used here for the memory for the

RAM. But still, I mean, we're in yellow

on memory pressure for M5 Pro as well.

So, this is very impressive, honestly,

for the base M5. I mean, the fact that

it has less RAM as well, 16 gigs versus

24 gigs on the M5 Pro. Uh, but yeah, a

lot of that swap's being used, but even

if I'm in Safari and changing between

all these different tabs, it's not

struggling, which is pretty impressive

to me. And by the way, take a look at

the CPU load. So, we have a lot more

red. The red bars are much higher on the

M5. Whereas on the M5 Pro, that CPU load

is pretty much just flatlined down there

at the bottom. Only about, you know,

between one to 4% system being used

right there versus 6 to 10 or sometimes

12% on the M5. So, still no beach ball

on the base M5 MacBook Pro. That is

crazy impressive with how much we have

going on right now that I've not seen a

beach ball one time. Okay, so now we're

going to run an Xcode benchmark here and

this is going to compile a pretty

extensive project and we're going to see

if maybe something like coding and Xcode

will be faster on M5 versus M5 Pro. So

we're going to run both of these at the

same time here and see how long each one

of them takes. So we will need to allow

access and it will go through the

process. Okay, so here are the results.

So the M5 took 199 seconds and the M5

Pro took 131 seconds and that's about a

34% increase in speed of compiling this

Xcode project on M5 Pro versus M5. So if

you are a developer, you will see some

real benefits to M5 Pro here. And now

that we finished up all of our testing,

let's check in on the battery life here.

So we've been doing this for a few hours

now and the M5 is at 34%. M5 Pro is at

9%. So, that is a big difference in

battery life. So, if you're looking for

the best battery life, period, then you

will definitely want to go for the base

M5. But, of course, you're not going to

have as much power. And also, keep in

mind that we were in high power mode to

get the maximum performance here on the

M5 Pro. So, of course, that will, you

know, drain battery faster, but that is

also what was necessary to run these

tests to see what it's capable of. Okay.

Okay, so after using these machines for

the past several days and after running

through all the tests that you saw in

this video, should you buy the M5 or M5

Pro MacBook Pro? And I would say that

once again, just like last year with the

base M4, the base M5 MacBook Pro is very

viable for pro users. Like, this is not

just a machine for web browsing and

daily use. Like, it's a legit pro

machine even for heavy workloads. if

you're gaming, if you're coding, you

know, AI tasks, like you're going to be

just fine with the base M5, especially

this year because it starts at 1 TBTE of

storage. That's a huge plus for the base

model. And we do also have 16 gigs of

RAM, which might not be enough if you

are like a really heavy pro user, but

for most people, I would say that that

is enough. I think if you need any more

than 16 gigs of RAM, you're probably

already looking at the M5 Pro anyways.

So, it's also nice that we have the same

ports on both, but just keep in mind

that we do have Thunderbolt 5 on the M5

Pro, and that does make a difference.

Like the transfer speeds, you know,

we're much faster on the M5 Pro MacBook

Pro when I transferred over that 200 gig

file. So, if you're copying files back

and forth from an SSD or just from

computer to computer, you are going to

see faster transfer speeds, which is

something you use on a daily basis, at

least I do. So, that's a big advantage

for the M5 Pro. However, as we saw, the

M5 is going to get you better battery

life for daily tasks like web browsing,

watching videos, even running all these

benchmarks. The M5 killed the M5 Pro in

terms of battery life. It lasted a lot

longer. However, I think that if you're

looking at a MacBook Pro in general and

not like a MacBook Air or MacBook Neo,

then performance is likely your very top

priority. So, you know, if you need more

than the base 16 gigs of RAM that the

the base MacBook Pro offers, I would say

just spend the extra money and get the

M5 Pro MacBook Pro because the extra

benefits that you're going to get on top

of the RAM increase, which is 24 gigs,

again, that'll be worth the cost for

whatever demanding tasks you're planning

on throwing at it. Because let's not

forget, pretty much everything was a

good bit faster on the M5 Pro MacBook

Pro, aside from video export. So, this

is one caveat I want to make here. If

you are a video editor, I don't think

that you need the M5 Pro MacBook Pro. I

think the base M5 is going to be fine

for you. Like I edit videos all the time

and I would choose M5 over M5 Pro for

that. But that's also because I do

prioritize battery life and I do

prioritize, you know, getting the best

bang for buck out of the machine and I

think that's going to come with the base

M5. But again, you are going to have

those extra CPU and GPU cores on the M5

Pro and that is going to make a

difference for those intense tasks,

especially if you're doing more than one

thing at a time. Like I usually don't do

a ton of things at once. I'm usually

just doing one major like intensive task

at a time. But if you're doing

multiples, M5 Pro for sure for that.

Also, I should mention that if you run

everything off of an external SSD like I

do, Thunderbolt 5 is going to be very

beneficial for faster transfer speeds.

But, you know, the reality is

Thunderbolt 4 is likely fast enough for

anything you throw at it. Like obviously

the M5 Pro is much faster for

transferring, but in day-to-day usage, I

don't think that, you know, Thunderbolt

4 is slow by any means, but also we

cannot forget that with the M5 Pro, you

can have a triple display setup. So if

you have three monitors that you're

looking to hook up, you know, your M5

MacBook Pro to, then you can only do

that with the M5 Pro MacBook Pro. So

keep that in mind. Whereas the base

model, you can run two external displays

and even two studio displays if you

would like to, but you cannot do three

like you can with the M5 Pro. So, that's

something else to keep in mind. Also, I

should mention the N1 chip inside of the

M5 Pro that gets you Wi-Fi 7 and

Bluetooth 6. That's also a small detail,

but it could be just enough to push

somebody over the edge to choose this

over the base M5. So, with all that

being said, I think that if you can deal

with the base configuration for the M5

MacBook Pro, which I think this year

it's easier than ever to deal with

because of 16 gigs of RAM and 1 TB, you

know, I think that you should go with

the base M5 because the chipset is more

than capable enough for most pro

workflows. So, if you can comfortably

afford the extra $500, I do think it's

worth it to go with the M5 Pro MacBook

Pro. However, I don't think that you're

even going to need all the power that it

provides. And if you think that you're

going to need like the most power ever,

you know, M5 Max is there. It's a lot

more, but if you're somebody in that

camp, you know, you're probably going to

be looking at the M5 Max chip. But I

think for most people, M5 Pro is going

to be even overkill. Like I think M5 is

the best for most people. So now, what

am I doing between these two machines

for my specific workflow? Now, keep in

mind, I do a lot of video editing, a lot

of photo editing. I am in Xcode

sometimes, so I'm really just doing a

lot of creative tasks on my MacBook. And

I do need, you know, really fast exports

for photos and for videos and of course

for compiling projects. So, what am I

going to be doing personally? Well, I'm

personally going to be sticking with the

base M5 MacBook Pro instead of the M5

Pro MacBook Pro. Like, yes, there was a

big advantage in Xcode, but I'm not

really an avid developer. If I'm an avid

developer, I'm much more likely to pick

the M5 Pro over the M5 because 34%

difference is substantial. Like that's a

big difference. So, if you are a

developer, I would say that, you know,

M5 Pro might be actually worth the extra

money. But for me, since I'm mostly in

photo editing and video editing, there

was really not a huge difference between

the two. And even when I had all those

tabs open earlier, you know, this thing

handled it just fine. Yes, there was a

lot of swap being used at multiple

periods, but it never gave me the beach

ball, not one time. So, that's

impressive. And that was enough for me

to choose the M5 over the M5 Pro and

save my 500 bucks. So, I hope this video

was helpful in showing you the

differences between the M5 and M5 Pro

MacBook Pro. Now, let me know in a

comment down below. Did you pick up one

of these two machines? Did you have the

existing M5 MacBook Pro before they

upgraded the storage to 1 TB? Let me

know all your thoughts down there. You

know, are you feeling remorse for not,

you know, waiting until the M5 Pro came

out? Just let me know all your thoughts

about these machines down in the

comments below and what you learned from

this video.